For the next period of time, Paldea's good students all entered an infinite loop of waking up—challenging—losing.
Of course, for students who had already tempered their minds at the Sunlight Gym, losing to the Elite Four on the Victory Road wasn't scary. As long as they could gain something from each battle, it was enough.
Every day's accumulation was for becoming stronger tomorrow!
At this point, whether they could become Champion was no longer important. After all, most of them would still have chances to challenge again next year.
This year, first lay the foundation, get used to the Victory Road's schedule and environment, and aim to pass in one go next year!
And during their suffering process, three students gradually shone brightly, becoming the most promising candidates to advance to Champion.
The first was naturally Nemona, who had demonstrated her strength from the start and received Aiden's unceasing praise—the "secret crush" student.
After two weeks of adjustment, she now possessed the strength to defeat the Elite Four. Facing Chairwoman Geeta's successive attacks, she could also launch effective counterattacks, with the score gap getting smaller and smaller.
Perhaps she was only one step away from truly defeating the Top Champion.
As for the second, it was Penny, the "BOSS" who had high popularity among students and single-handedly established Team Star.
Although she was the student with the most theoretical knowledge in Team Star, often giving advice to other squad leaders, Penny's own lineup remained completely unchanged. Relying solely on her Eevee squad, she broke through the Elite Four's defenses.
However, when facing Chairwoman Geeta, she was still temporarily at a loss, currently unable to find a way to break through.
And the last one—
No one knew when that youth named Red had mixed into their group.
In the initial impressions of most Team Star members, getting to know that guy who wore the same outfit every day, whose baseball cap and Pikachu seemed more like his true body than himself, was apparently as simple as meeting someone on the roadside.
They were just sitting around outside the Victory Road as usual, analyzing the strengths of the current challenger on the screen.
Then, this youth suddenly appeared beside them and very naturally integrated into the discussion, occasionally giving quite unique insights.
It was—very strange.
There was definitely no such person in school, but before they knew it, Red had become part of everyone's study group.
Moreover, he only seemed to start challenging after the Victory Road's opening hours ended and the students were preparing to leave. He also seemed to have a close relationship with Teacher Azure.
Ever since a certain student lost something and returned to the Victory Road to search, coincidentally discovering Red entering the Victory Road, this youth who challenged Paldea's Elite Four "through Teacher Azure's back door" became famous among the students.
After all, students didn't have so many ulterior motives. Some of them might even have age gaps of double, all gathered together purely by their love for Pokémon battles.
And Red was undoubtedly a powerhouse in their eyes.
Even when facing Teacher Azure, Red could always pull off some tricks, making him show surprise and dramatic expressions.
Making the students couldn't help but exclaim: So Teacher Azure, you have days like this too!
So, within just over a week, Red quickly integrated into the Naranja Academy student group, becoming their "gold medal foreign aid."
And if we had to say who was happiest about this—
"Hey, Trainer over there!"
"After today's Victory Road challenge, come spar with me too!"
When Nemona, panting heavily, climbed countless steps and rested for a good while, she immediately found Red sitting among the students, silently listening to their conversation.
Her purpose in finding Red was very pure, just like what she said—simply to get extra practice with him.
Just like the previous few days.
"..."
Red didn't even need to look up. Just by hearing the voice, he knew who it was, so he nodded very calmly, agreeing to Nemona's request.
"Then it's settled. I'm going to challenge Teacher Aiden first, hee hee~"
Nemona revealed a satisfied smile, then turned around without looking back, stepping lightly into the Victory Road challenge room.
As for the surrounding students, they had already gotten used to the two's interaction mode.
After all, probably only these two energy monsters would still find time to squeeze in a friendly match to consolidate fundamentals after a whole day of high-intensity studying and battling—
Just thinking about it felt like hell. Please don't be so competitive!!!
However, this was only for students of average level.
In Red and Nemona's eyes, having one more battle was as easy as drinking one more cup of water every day, and might even be good for their health?
This was the composure of the strong.
For Red, as long as it was a battle that could make him feel pressure, he welcomed all comers.
After all, if he wanted to become stronger, appropriate pressure was necessary.
And similarly, for Nemona, it was the same.
Red's appearance actually helped her complete the concept of "rival" that Teacher Aiden used to frequently mention.
Teacher Aiden once said that a regional Champion without a rival would definitely have an incomplete life!
Either they would become depressed because they were too strong to find opponents, or their strength would stagnate after becoming Champion until overthrown by the next generation.
Initially, Nemona didn't understand what Aiden meant. After all, she had always been a lone wolf. Even after studying at the Sunlight Gym for a while, these past six months she had basically developed on her own, eventually forming her current tactics.
Until Red appeared, she realized—this guy was indeed the same as her! (referring to being battle maniacs)
When two newcomers who only wanted to become stronger and thirsted for battles with strong opponents met, battling and exchanging pointers was a natural outcome~
Even now, Nemona hadn't asked Red's name, and it didn't affect their communication—
Nemona: So this is what having a rival feels like? In order to become Paldea Champion before him and not embarrass Teacher Aiden, I must work even harder!
Red: …
Red didn't have Nemona's strong desire to win, but this peer who was "very Teacher Azure-style" was indeed a good opponent.
So, this was also within Teacher Azure's plan, right?
Two children influenced by him from different regions, competing against each other in Paldea, challenging him with the goal of becoming Champion—
Very traditional Kanto "overthrowing the superior," indeed very much like a teacher's style.
In short, Red was quite happy in Paldea.
He fulfilled his dream of repeatedly challenging Teacher Azure, and had a good opponent with similar strength actively inviting him to battle.
This place was simply heaven!
Of course, whether Red or Aiden, they seemed to have forgotten about that "left-behind child" staying in Pallet Town who still didn't know Red's whereabouts.
Blue: There's a thief!!!
"Amazing, Nemona, you've gotten stronger again."
"It seems I lost this battle, but don't forget to pay attention to your next opponent~"
"Be sure to watch your Pokémon's condition."
"Yes! I'll be careful!"
The time came to July 20th, Monday.
More than half a month had passed since the Victory Road opened.
And today, Nemona felt her condition was unprecedentedly good!
At Teacher Aiden's place, she only lost one Skeledirge and passed easily with a crushing 6:1 score.
She even received Teacher Aiden's head-pat of approval—a first!
Before leaving Aiden's side and heading to the corridor for the next challenge, she didn't forget to summon her stamina-depleted Skeledirge, feeding it a Max Revive with Moomoo Milk to quickly restore its stamina.
How important Max Revives were in the Victory Road, any Trainer who had challenged it would know.
However, Max Revives were obviously not some universal "senzu bean" that could instantly restore all a Pokémon's stamina and completely eliminate fatigue.
During her first challenge against Chairwoman Geeta, Nemona had suffered greatly from this point. She sent out particularly exhausted Pokémon to force the battle, and the result was naturally an unquestionable crushing defeat.
Based on her previous experience, a Pokémon's stamina was only enough to use Max Revives twice at most, and each use would make them somewhat more lethargic.
So, stamina management was the top priority for breaking through the Victory Road!
After recognizing this key point, Nemona gradually began shifting her thinking, striving to break through the Elite Four with minimal cost, trying to present a full-health lineup to challenge the most difficult Chairwoman Geeta.
And this time, after two weeks of trial and error, she finally succeeded!
"Little Nemona, you—alright, not bad."
"As for where these tactics came from, just blame it all on Aiden."
"It must all be his fault!"
At the second challenge of the Victory Road, after being flash-broken by Nemona with "Since Dudunsparce has wings, Tera Flying is also reasonable, right?", Ground-type Elite Four Rika could only shake her head helplessly.
No way, who told Nemona's whole team to have no good way to deal with Ground types? Previously when facing Rika, her losses had always been high.
So she could only work on the Tera Orb.
One hand of Tera Flying Dudunsparce directly gave the "unsuspecting" Elite Four Rika a clean sweep, achieving a very exaggerated 6:0.
Anyway, for students, the Tera Shards during the Victory Road were provided by the League, basically free. They would also be reloaded before entering the next challenge.
Maintaining battle flexibility was also one of the "burning techniques" Nemona learned from Aiden!
And at the third challenge, facing Larry, who had advanced from Normal-type Gym Leader to Flying-type Elite Four, Nemona's choice was naturally—
"—Truly worthy of being Aiden's student. To think you could even come up with Skeledirge using Thunder Fang."
"Then, congratulations, Nemona. Please proceed to the next challenge."
Even when defeated by a student, Elite Four Larry's dead face still showed no change, and he even seemed to breathe a sigh of relief.
The reason why, Nemona wasn't quite clear.
However, this time she defeated another Elite Four member 6:2, and her performance was also perfect!
Just knowing this was enough!
So, as Larry walked slowly toward his workstation with an ethereal aura, preparing to brew a hot coffee to refresh himself, Nemona was already full of motivation pushing open the door, walking toward the room where Dragon-type Elite Four Hassel was.
Although he was the one with the strongest paper strength among the Elite Four, for Nemona who had challenged him multiple times—
Feels less troublesome than Teacher Aiden——
With this thought, Nemona relied on Baton Pass tactics and her very muscular, scale-polished Kommo-o, directly breaking through Elite Four Hassel's defenses in one breath.
"—It seems this humble one is no longer your match either."
"I hope in the upcoming battles, Nemona, you can also maintain your passion and become this year's first Champion~"
As an art teacher at Naranja Academy, Hassel had no particular feelings about losing to his student, only seeing Nemona off with a smile.
At the same time, somewhat emotional in his heart—
Was it his imagination? It felt like the students who could challenge him this year had already integrated Aiden's tactics into their thinking, almost forming into instincts.
However, this Baton Pass tactic was really good.
Worth promoting to students.
For Hassel, he didn't care about winning or losing. After all, having more students defeat him and qualify to challenge Chairwoman Geeta was also more interesting.
He just didn't know if this time, Nemona could actually defeat Chairwoman Geeta?
Speaking of which, after Nemona it seemed to be that newcomer from Kanto's turn. He should prepare in advance.
"Glimmora, use Sludge Wave!"
"Lycanroc, burrow underground then use Drill Run!!!"
With her previous multiple failed challenge experiences against Chairwoman Geeta, this time Nemona's battle process went smoothly.
Chairwoman Geeta still led with Kingambit and ended with Glimmora, her lineup completely unchanged from before.
Initially Nemona thought there was some reasoning behind it. Later, Aiden woke her up with "What are you thinking? The generals who don't lead are enough to wipe out your whole team. Could Chairwoman Geeta do that?" Only then did she realize—
So even the powerful Chairwoman Geeta had gone as easy as possible???
Although she felt somewhat subtly unhappy in her heart, Nemona had to admit:
If Chairwoman Geeta didn't hold back, she might really not be able to win——
After all, even in this situation, the battle still reached 5:4, with victory hanging by a thread.
But fortunately, Nemona knew Chairwoman Geeta's last Pokémon would definitely be Glimmora, so she specially preserved Lycanroc's stamina.
That's why she could rely on all the strength Lycanroc had accumulated, using a Drill Run bursting from the ground, to end her final battle on the Victory Road.
"Very nice, to think you could think of using the ground to avoid moves."
Even in defeat, Chairwoman Geeta wasn't annoyed, instead smiling and praising Nemona.
If she hadn't been awakened by Teacher Aiden, she would probably feel very happy, right?
But now—it only felt like the Chairwoman was coaxing a child!
Seemingly seeing the subtle emotion in Nemona's eyes, Geeta only smiled, then continued speaking: "In short, congratulations Nemona."
"Congratulations on becoming Paldea's first Champion born this year."
Yay~!!!
The unhappiness in Nemona's heart instantly disappeared, and a smile immediately appeared on her face.
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